A Hero for Earth
by FlamingSickle
Summary: A fanfiction version of the first episode of the Captain Planet series from the Planeteers' points of view in a manner of speaking, since it's still in third-person.


_Well, this took me forever to post due to the fact that I hate putting stories in web format, but I guess these horizontal lines will do for separating sections. I'd much rather use additional spacing, but nooo, FF won't let me. Grrrr... Anyway, enjoy! Oh, and I don't own any of the characters in here or even the plot or anything. Please don't sue!

* * *

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The sun rose bright and hot over the arid Tanzanian plain, depriving the soil of what small bit of water remained despite the ongoing drought. But the heat of summer did nothing to stop the locals from going about their business, from performing those tasks necessary to keep the tribe going, to keep its people fed and clothed. Some of the villagers left each morning to walk to the nearest town to buy supplies and trade, but today one young man went out for an entirely different reason.

A bit giddy with glee, he walked opposite from the way the others were going, aiming for an area where a farm used to be. Once thriving some ten years ago, it had fallen into disuse when the owner had died. Realizing there was no need to waste resources continuing to cultivate unneeded crops from it, the village had left it alone, and now it was to be the perfect place for the young man to plant his new acquisition, especially since the field had had so much time to regain a proper balance of nutrients.

Just yesterday a long-awaited shipment of young saplings had arrived in town, and the young man had eagerly bartered for a bag of two hundred of the diminutive trees to replace those that had been cut down to make room for the fields in the first place. His only regret was that he could not have planted them last year, before the drought had started, but he had confidence the rains would start again soon. Plus, he was not against carting buckets of water from the low stream nearby. Such a task would take all day, but it would be worth it to one day see these trees towering over him.

Armed with only a planting stick and the bag of saplings slung over his shoulder, he set to work as soon as he reached the field. Knowing how much planting the trees meant to him, a friend of his had brought his ox and a plow and helped him to till the soil a few weeks ago. The ground had since leveled back out, but no vegetation had grown yet because of the lack of water. Still, it was easy enough to create holes by stabbing the pointed end of the long staff into the ground. His next step was to carefully place a sapling into the hole and then use the stick end again to edge the loam back into the pit.

For half-an-hour he continued without rest, pausing only occasionally to wipe sweat from his brow, lest it run into his eyes and become a salty irritant. Pleased at how quickly the job was getting done, he plunged his staff once again into the soil and was surprised to see what appeared to be a ring of gold on the end of it. Curious, he turned the staff over and examined the jewelry more closely. Now he could see it had some sort of green gem in it that had a circular design etched onto the bottom. Wondering if it belonged to the deceased owner, he removed it to see if there might be any other markings and nearly dropped it when a voice said, "Put it on."

He looked around for the source, thinking that perhaps someone was playing a trick on him, but no one was to be seen. "Go on," the voice continued. "It's all-right." Feeling slightly foolish for listening to a voice that was apparently inside his head, he decided to give it a try, succumbing to the urge to put it on his right index finger instead of the left middle, as he'd been intending, and his astonishment increased when he saw the ring change size to better fit his finger. Then there was a bright flash of green, then nothing.

* * *

Midday was always a wonderful time for a swim. Usually the warmest period, it made the cool water feel that much better on the skin. Not that swimming hadn't always felt good to the lone human currently swimming just off a rocky shore. She had lived her whole youth by the ocean until beginning college, and it was always nice to get back, as she was doing now on her midwinter break. Classes would begin again in just a few days, and she was determined to spend as much time as possible in the water. She only hoped her parents weren't feeling shunned at her insistence to stay at the ocean. 

She was sure they understood, though, especially as she'd always done so. In fact, they'd requested research posts close to her school, and every break her father would drive the still long hours to bring her back to where they continued their careers as marine biologists. It was a path that the fifteen-year-old wanted to follow, as well, leading to her having worked diligently enough to enter higher education at the tender age of fourteen.

But, like any teenager, she still loved to play, as she was doing now with a dolphin who had come to investigate the decidedly terrestrial being in the water. The girl loved all aquatic life, but she'd always had a soft spot for dolphins, especially after a dolphin she'd considered her best friend had died in polluted waters. So, when she had spotted the ocean mammal coming towards her, she had swum out to meet it and make friends, dancing with it in the water time after time until she could no longer hold her breath.

After one such bout, she retreated to the rocky coastline and climbed out of the water to put on a robe and toss a hula hoop to the dolphin, who, she was sure, would return it, such was a dolphin's love of playing catch. She was surprised, therefore, when it surfaced several meters from the floating hoop with something glinting yellow at the tip of its nose. Before the girl could pick up a pair of binoculars to take a closer look, the dolphin tipped back and then flung whatever it was at her with impressive accuracy.

What turned out to be a ring landed in her outstretched hand. Now it made sense. The dolphin must have noticed someone's lost jewelry shining in the rippling light making its way through the water and been distracted by that en route to the hoop. But her continued reasoning was cut off when something in her head told her to put it on. She stared, dumbfounded, at it, wondering if she was hallucinating, and the voice, which seemed to be a woman's, repeated itself, even telling her where to put it and sending a mental nudge to overcome her hesitation. Not knowing what to expect, the girl slipped the ring on where she was directed, and a brilliant cascade of the bluest light she'd ever seen burst from a single jewel of the same color inset into the gold band. Then everything was black.

* * *

Late at night in New York City was never a good time to be outside, even when not within the city itself, and Brooklyn was no exception, for the darkness was haven to all sorts of people, criminals, misbehaving teenagers, gangsters, and the homeless. Of course, not everyone fit into those categories, as was the case with a certain seventeen-year-old wandering around the apartments near to his own, where he lived with his mother and father. 

Those very two people, among other reasons, were why he was currently ambling aimlessly around the streets. Always a heavy drinker, his father had yet again started a loud argument with the teen's mother, prompting the fiery redhead to slip out when they weren't looking, for all too often these shouting matches wound up with a concerned or complaining neighbor calling the police, and the teen had no desire having to insist to the cops again and again that no physical violence, something even to which his father in his most drunken state would never stoop, had been committed.

But now he had nowhere in mind to go. Normally he might hang out at other houses, but his best friend was still in Ohio, visiting relatives over the winter break, and he'd just broken up with his girlfriend a mere three days ago. She was still being friendly towards him, but there was a certain forcing of it that convinced him that she wasn't as okay with it as he was, and showing up at her house in the dead of night would definitely send the wrong message.

So he was left with no real destination and was already beginning to debate with himself whether or not to go back yet when he heard what sounded like a scuffle just around the corner. Unafraid, he stepped around the brick wall to see a homeless man about to be bashed in the face by a chain wielded by the punk who was holding onto the man's shirt and laughing. Not pausing to think, the teen ran out and kicked the descending hand aside, sending the chain flying. Rubbing his injury, the spiky-haired, would-be criminal turned, and the teen could see by the flickering light of a nearby trash can fire that he was outmatched, but that didn't mean he couldn't bluff, and there was always the possibility of getting in a lucky strike if that didn't work. He held out his fist as though daring the other to attack and adopted a cocky, slightly insane grin. Clearly believing he was facing off against some karate black belt, the punk turned and ran, leaving behind the teen and the man, who laughed at this display of fright, when suddenly the trashcan exploded.

The two men ducked, the teen wondering if the fleeing coward had thrown something dangerous into the can, but then he noticed that the blast had already receded and that something had been ejected high into the air. Whatever it was was on fire, but the flames died at the apex of its arc, and the teen reflexively held out his hand to catch it, noticing two other teenagers collide off to his left, both of them as red-haired as he. However, when the ring landed in his palm, he forgot all about them as something in his head hold him to put it on. Now assuming this had to be some crazy dream induced by that Star Wars marathon he'd watched on New Year's, he slipped the still-warm, silver ring onto the pointer finger of his right hand and felt the ring go hot again as he saw the jewel let loose a flash of orange light that obscured everything else.

* * *

Mountains could be a wonderful escape. Often lacking any sort of heavy population outside a random village or two, they offered a way to get away from the noises and emissions humans so frequently created, and the diversity of life allowed to grow at its own rate, unimpeded and not automatically fearful of humans, appealed greatly to the single figure visible climbing one, a light blue keyboard hanging against her back as though it were a quiver. 

Just a few hours ago, she had been stuck aboard a cramped, small plane with her family, and she was relieved to be able to stretch her legs again in such an exhilarating manner. She and her family were here in Kirgiz S.S.R. to visit her uncle, cousin, and aunt over Christmas, an event that would normally have taken place either in her hometown just outside the capital or in Leningrad, where her uncle and cousin lived. However, they had had plans to visit her uncle's and deceased father's sister, who had recently been relocated to Kirgiz with her new research assignment.

A fortnight from turning sixteen, the blonde girl, though she had enjoyed alternating between studying her texts and looking down at the ground below on the flight, had eagerly disembarked once they had landed. Her uncle and cousin had not yet arrived, and so the girl had delightfully greeted her aunt and her uncle-in-law with her brother and grandmother and waited anxiously but politely until her aunt had noticed her niece eying a nearby crag and offered that the girl go and have fun climbing, as the other plane wasn't due to land for another two hours. The teen had eagerly agreed, especially since the area around Moskva was so flat and plain, and jogged off for the base.

Now, approximately forty-five minutes later, the girl was just a few meters from the top. She pulled herself up the last ledge and walked up the slight incline to the summit. The small, flat platform offered an incredible view of the surrounding ranges, and the girl took only a minute to rest before unslinging her keyboard and beginning to play in the hopes of attracting some birds to come near. Bird watching had always been a hobby of hers ever since she'd been a little girl, fascinated by birds of all types and their ability to soar high into the sky and escape everything.

Within just a few measures of song, a small sparrow swooped in and alit on the edge of her synthesizer, chirping along to the melody. The girl smiled, surprised it had worked so quickly, and then gasped as another of the same species also landed, holding a gold ring in its beak and looking up expectantly, as though offering for her to take it. The girl, no longer playing, cautiously reached her hand towards it, and, when the bird stayed still, she gingerly took hold of it, and the bird let go. "Put in on," a voice said, and for a bewildered moment the girl thought it was the bird who had addressed her. It certainly looked as though it knew something she didn't. Not quite sure why she was doing it, she followed the command of the voice, opting for a non-traditional finger, the right index, on which to adorn it. The moment she did, there was an explosion of light the color of the sky, and she feared the sudden, unnatural wind would cast her from the mountain. When everything went to black, she was sure it had.

* * *

Night in the Amazon rainforest in Brasil was an interesting time to be out and about, to say the least. Many of the predators that inhabited the dense trees and the land in which they grew tended to be nocturnal, slumbering or simply relaxing during the heat of the day while they waited for the low level of light in which their eyes best functioned. When the sun went down, their hunting cries filled the air until they located their prey, and then the chase was on. 

It was this balance of life and death that one twelve-year-old boy was observing from high in the canopy. It was for an assignment set down for him by his grandfather, who was teaching him all the old Shaman knew about how to live in harmony with the jungle and its denizens, and entailed in that was understanding that death was a necessary part of it all.

It was not a concept the boy thought he'd have any trouble grasping. He'd observed the cycle ever since his studies had begun after the presumed death of his parents, and now it was only unnecessary killing that he despised. After all, predators had to eat, and even the herbivores killed parts, if not all, of plants when they supped, and so he had watched with fascination at the tactics the carnivores employed to get food and the tricks the prey used, with varying degrees of success, in order to elude their aggressors.

He had been observing the animals' dances for several hours before deciding to allow himself a break to find something to eat and get some water to drink. The Xingu River gurgled not far off, and so he was just about to descend when he heard what sounded like the angry and scared chittering and screeching of a spider monkey, only it seemed to be coming from below, on the ground, rather than in the trees. Curious, the boy peered around the trunk of the tree he was in and saw the dim figure of the primate thrashing around and tugging at the vines that held it trapped and in a perfect position for the jaguar stalking it to attack.

As the spotted feline drew nearer, the monkey's cries grew more frantic, and the boy battled with himself in his mind what to do. Spider monkeys almost never went to ground, and it didn't seem fair that this one should be killed for its youthful curiosity, even if it was uncharacteristic. So, when the jaguar took another step closer, the boy grabbed a vine a short way down the branch and swung down to the forest floor, landing in a ready crouch between the predator and the prey.

The jaguar, scared by the sudden arrival of a larger creature, turned and ran away into the darkness. Satisfied that there was no more threat, the boy turned around and set to work freeing the brown monkey from its vegetative prison. Strangely, the monkey seemed to trust the boy completely and did not even struggle when the boy lifted it up. Instead, it held up a silver ring as though it were a gift in return for saving its life.

Wondering where it had come from, as he had not even noticed it while taking the time to carefully remove the vines, he set the monkey back down and took the ring from it. To add to all the strangeness of the night, it somehow did not even surprise him when a woman's voice told him he should put it onto his right index finger, and with the resultant flood of yellow light when he complied came perfect understanding. He barely felt the monkey climb onto his shoulder as the light disappeared, to be replaced with nothing.

* * *

In a white glare that quickly resolved into five distinct colors that took on human shapes, the five youths materialized next to each other, squinting at the bright, glittering remains of the brilliance that had emanated from their rings. It quickly became apparent to them as they looked around, taking in the tropical beauty of wherever they were, that each was surrounded by four other strangers. Interestingly, out of all of them, one boy, who was clearly younger than the rest and had with him some sort of monkey, seemed the calmest. 

Before the others could voice their concerns, however, the image of a woman clad in purple suddenly appeared in front of them, hovering above the ground and descending slowly, drawing even the attention of the redhead, who had been studying the blonde with interest. Then the voice that they all recognized as to be the one they had heard telling them to don the rings said in English, "Welcome to Hope Island."

The group looked at her, stunned, and it was the redhead who was first to recover, stepping forward to ask, "Yo, uh, say, lady, uh, you wanna explain what's goin' on here?" The others perked up, eager to hear how and why they'd been summoned to what seemed a tropical paradise. Still, it was the boy who looked most at home, looking around a bit with interest yet not managing to be rude or not pay attention. The woman, who seemed as though she were in her forties, smiles and quipped, "Hmph, so much for drama." She waved her hand to indicate the entire island and repeated, "This is Hope Island, and my name is Gaia, the spirit of earth." When no one spoke to question such a claim, she continued. "I'm sure you're wondering what you're doing here. Well, for the past century I've been asleep in a sort of hibernation, but when I awoke I saw just how badly humans have damaged my planet, to the point where it is dying." At this the teens grew tense, feeling a bit guilty and worried as they wondered if they were getting blamed for it or were going to be scapegoats, but Gaia's next statement alleviated their fears. "And so I have called upon you five to help protect the planet as my first Planeteers, a united force to stand against those who do not care and who pollute… sorry, I'm getting dramatic again. Here, follow me."

They watched, torn between confusion and excitement, as she turned and began to talk towards the large, open, thatched hut in front of them. Gleaming crystals that looked similar to the much larger ones that were covering one of the island's mountains and were dotted around the surrounding land could be seen in great abundance inside, and it seemed to have two stories. Gaia continued to walk, appearing confident the others would follow, and the boy took the first steps to go after her. The teenagers, as though this had been the cue they'd been waiting for, shrugged at each other and followed after the boy, whose pet monkey continued to cling to his shoulder and look around with an air of cautious curiosity.

Gaia and the five stepped into the dimmer light of the shaded hut, and the blonde's eye was immediately drawn to the large screen with no visible controls embedded in its crystal frame, then her gaze slid to the left, where a computer was clearly identifiable despite its own crystal design. The African teenager's eyes traced over the inside of the hut as he wondered how many trees were used to make such a building, but a glance outside revealed no stumps, and the island was clearly in no danger of deforestation. The dark-haired girl glanced around then looked back down at her ring, wondering what else it might do if it had managed to teleport her to some remote island. The others had apparently come by the same method, for they all were wearing either gold or silver rings in the same place. Meanwhile, the boy idly scratched the monkey holding onto him as he slowly rotated, taking in everything. Only the redhead seemed torn about where to look, as he did indeed look around but kept bringing his attention back to the blonde, who had as yet not noticed his glances.

Finally, he shook his head and addressed Gaia, who was standing patiently by the control-less screen as she waited for them to be ready. A'right, let me get this straight," he began, and the others ceased their ocular wanderings to look at him and Gaia. "Your name is Gaia, and you're the spirit of the earth?"

"And you brought us here to help you save earth from being ruined?" chimed in the Asian girl, also needed a clarifying recap.

The spirit of earth smiled and replied, "Yes, that's about the size of it."

At this, the blue-jacketed blonde stepped forward to voice her confusion. "Savink our planet is, yes, a good thing," she began. "However, we are but youths. How can ve help?"

Gaia was about to reply when the redhead, clearly focusing on other matters, came up beside the blonde and said, "Hey, love your accent, babe. You Russian?" He grinned at her, clearly under the impression that this was one of the beset pick-up lines ever.

She leaned away from him as he drew nearer, appalled at his poor manners and wondering why he smelled faintly of ash. But the more she leaned back, the more he followed, so she glared him in the eye and stated, "Soviet." She put her hands on his chest and pushed, saying, "Please, go away."

However, this did little to phase him, and the Soviet continued to watch him warily out of the corner of her eye, especially when he commented, "Heh, love it." The others watched this exchange as they tried to get a feel for the strangers they had yet to be introduced to, and no one seemed to be dangerous or aggressive so far, nor even really dislikeable.

Gaia cleared her throat for attention and continued, "As I was saying, through your power rings, each of you can control one power of nature, to a limited degree." In response to this pronouncement, the five glanced down at the rings on their right hands. "For instance, you, Linka," she said, pointing to the girl who had asked how they could help, "control the power of Wind. Try it."

"Well," Linka replied with an apprehensive look on her face, as she had no idea what she was supposed to do. "All right." She raised her right fist up in front of her, not sure what to expect or even if she was doing it correctly. When nothing happened after a second of moving her hand around a bit, she decided to try saying the power, and she almost said it in Russian before realizing that if everyone was conversing in English the rings might respond to that language, as well.

As soon as she said, "Wind," her ring flashed the same blue it had before, and a blast of wind filled the hut, quickly spinning itself into a miniature tornado that was visible in front of them by the dust it carried from the floor and by the tiny streaks of sky-blue light within it. The five drew back as the suction tugged them towards the cyclone, which continued to stay in place in the center of the group. With this incredible display of power that she could feel cause a slight drain in her energy, Linka began to wonder what else she might be able to do with the ring, to wonder if she might even be able to fly with it.

As though it had somehow read her thoughts, the tornado abruptly came straight for her and lifted her nearly two meters off the floor, for which she was in no way prepared. "Ah, no!" she cried out, trying to figure out how to get her ring to cease. "Stop!" she finally just called, and her power cut off immediately, allowing her to drop back down to the floor and land on her backside. "Chyort voz'mi," she cursed as she rubbed where she had hit. Trying not to let her embarrassment show, she picked herself up, noticing the American looking at her in a sly yet contemplative manner again.

Gaia chuckled softly and then continued as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. "Kwame, your power is Earth. Go ahead; try it." The tall teenager she had indicated followed Linka's lead and raised his ring into the air, thankful that he hadn't been the first one to go, though he was very aware he also didn't know what his ring might do or how it might affect him or the others. "All right. Earth," he commanded, and the sound of moving dirt and rocks drew everyone's attention to a patch of ground outside the building, where a sizable chasm opened itself up. "Impressive," Kwame commented, realizing he could tell his ring to close the rift again just by thinking it, and he did so. "Truly with a ring such as this I will be able to plant many trees," he said, thinking of how quickly he would be able to finish sowing the field by his village now, "and also stop many bulldozers from destroying the forest."

Gaia smiled and nodded. "Now you're getting the idea."

Here the redhead stepped up again, an excited grin on his face, knowing there were only two more Ancient Greek elements he might get. "Hey, what's my element?" he inquired, pointing his ring. "Water? Uh, Fire?" His grin turned to astonished shock and a yelp as his ring grew warm and let loose a burst of flame that scorched the floor of the hut and set it ablaze. "Uh, s-sorry," he stammered, looking around for something with which to douse the fire. "You got an extinguisher?"

Gaia seemed unconcerned, even amused, at the fact that her floor was now being eaten away as she turned to the Asian girl. "Better than that, Gi, your power is Water."

"Okay, here goes," Gi replied, raising her ring high above her head and imagining a rush of water pouring in to put out the flames and reflecting on how perfect this element was for her. "Water!"

From outside came a huge splash and the sound of a raging river as a section of sea water from the nearby lagoon rose up and shot towards the hut, knocking everyone off his or her feet and putting out the blaze, missing only Gaia, who had hovered into the air just in time to avoid being drenched. She lowered back down to the floor as the water subsided and the five youths started to stand up, with the exception of the Fire Planeteer.

"Huh, nice job, toots. I'm all wet," he complained, pushing his soaked bangs from his forehead and wiping his face with his hand.

Gi grinned and stood, glad she was able to take the arrogant teen down a notch, and replied, "You certainly are."

But it was Linka who had the most effect on him, reminding him exactly why he was now dripping in the first place as she wrung water from her own wet ponytail and looked pointedly at him. "At least the fire is out."

"Oh," he replied, subdued and thinking he wasn't exactly making the best impression on her. "Yeah."

He jerked his head up, though, at the sudden sound of angry chittering in his right ear and saw the monkey the boy had had on his shoulder jumping up and down and snarling at the redhead, somehow recognizing that it was his fault and seeming even more annoyed at being wet than he.

"What do you think your power is, Ma-Ti?" Kwame asked. He stopped in his tracks, wondering where he'd gotten that name from, as the boy's name had never been given.

"I already know," he replied in the same mystical manner Gaia had used earlier, and it indeed seemed to be his correct name. Yellow waves of light were emitted from his ring, which he pointed at the flailing monkey. "Mine is Heart." Immediately it calmed the monkey down, and the primate even gave the redhead a big hug, but Ma-Ti did not cut his power there. He kept using it, tapping into the minds of the amazed other four and speaking to them telepathically. "_I can sense you all, hear your thoughts, feel your feelings._" He could feel their reactions to his intrusion, as well, mixtures of shock, guarded reserve, and unease, and made a mental note not to use this particular technique when he didn't have to.

"Bozhe moy," exclaimed Linka. "I can hear him! In my head!" Now Wheeler was certain this was a hallucination born from watching even those stupid Ewok spin-offs and decided he'd just stick with the movies and books.

"That's right," Gaia agreed with Linka before turning to Ma-Ti. "Ma-Ti, yours is the greatest power of all," she explained, "because without a heart to guide them, the other powers are useless. Through you the others will always be linked, no matter where they are." She stepped back to face them as a whole and continued, "On the side of good, you are a team, now and forever, the Planeteers."

This christening speech she gave sent a charge of excitement through the five, and they raised their rings into the air and cheered. The redhead, who was standing at the back, seemed the most ecstatic of all as he exclaimed, "Yeah, this is gonna be hot!" Always a bit on the pyrophiliac side, though not ever quite reaching pyromania, he eagerly thought of what he could do with his ring, imagining it shooting fire even now, which turned out to be a painful mistake. "Aah!" he yelled as it activated in the into which hand he'd punched his right to emphasize his exclamation, and he drew his hand back and shook it, noticing with some satisfaction that Linka was looking at him and his hand in not only surprise but concern.

Kwame chuckled and came to his side. "But first I see we will need to practice with our new powers," he suggested; however, it was evident that that was not what Gaia had in mind.

"There's no time, Kwame," she interrupted, moving to the control-less screen and activating it with a wave of her hand, "for we already have our first crisis." As the screen winked on, the Planeteers had just enough time to marvel at this odd technology before their wonder turned to horror at what it displayed. Images of a once beautiful coastline now coated with slick, dark oil panned across. Waters that were sparkling in the distance were a dull, rainbowish black up close. The Planeteers gasped as suffering animals filled the audio channels with their cries for help, a cacophony of walruses' barks and gulls' and pelicans' squawks. Gi shuddered, feeling a bit guilty for being thankful that oil had a lower density than water, but she also knew that if the oil were there long-term, photosynthesis would be unable to take place in the aquatic plants below, causing the water's oxygen would deplete, and then the fish would try to surface to gulp air and get coated in oil, all in the hopes of respiration.

It was the sight of the covered birds that affected Linka the most, as she knew how easily they could die from such a plight. Not only could their drenched body not permit them to fly, but also these particular birds' regular food supply was marine life, things like fish and mollusks, and, while gulls were good foragers, those here were in no condition to utilize that skill at the moment. And even now many of them must have been trying to preen their feathers to remove the oil, which would only mean that they would ingest the toxic substance.

For Ma-Ti, seeing _all_ the animals suffering repulsed him, and when he thought about it, he realized he could faintly feel their pain through his power ring and wondered if he'd be able to deal with it when they got to wherever the crisis was. He'd have to, though, as there was no way he was going to let this disaster continue.

Kwame and the redhead, while clearly aghast, were not so affected as the other three, having no particular adoration of specific animals, or at least not any that were being harmed at the moment, but that didn't make them any less determined to clean up the spill, and Kwame was already calculating how he might best make use of his power. The redhead seemed slightly confused as he wondered what the heck his destructive ring could do besides set the oil on fire.

Then the shot showed some huge, gleaming machine trudging though the water, and there was no doubt in the Planeteers' minds that this was what had caused so much destruction, especially since it had stuck one of its pipes into the water, a spot from which oil continued to pour out onto the surface. As these images continued to display, Gaia explained further, "The planet is being threatened by the evil Hoggish Greedly and his sidekick, Rigger," she said, and now the youths could see the duo on the derrick portion of the walker.

Whoever had named Hoggish Greedly had either been a psychic, able to foresee what the newborn would become, or had doomed the boy to follow what his name suggested, for now, as a man of perhaps forty or so, he emulated a greedy pig in every way, starting with being overweight. Obviously no stranger to food, Greedly could easily be five hundred pounds, so morbidly obese was he. He was almost bald, perhaps deliberately shaved that way, for a mohawk straight down the middle of his head revealed him to have red hair. His nose was pushed up, as though he had once run into a wall and had it stick that way, and now it looked just as a human version of a pig's snout might. The only thing that was missing was the curly, pink tail, but he might even have had that beneath the brown utility jumpsuit he wore.

While Greedly sat at the controls, laughing and snorting in joy at the amount of oil he was gaining illegally, Rigger ran back and forth along the deck, also seeming excited, and his physical description could only have been more different from Greedly's if he'd been a woman. Whereas Greedly was overly large, Rigger was exceedingly thin, looking on the verge of being anorexic. Linka might have thought it could be a thyroid problem were Rigger not a full foot shorter than Greedly and exhibiting no other symptoms. Maybe it was malfunctioning only now, or maybe Greedly ate all his food for him. Whatever the case, Rigger's blond hair, pointed goatee, and badly concealed fear of his boss made him seem more like a chicken than anything else, and Kwame mused that he might be an easy pushover if it came to intimidation.

The screen turned off as Rigger began jumping for joy when the tubing began to deposit crude oil into an almost full tank, and the sudden lack of horrific scenes shook the Planeteers from their stupor as Gaia turned towards them. "Planeteers, Greedly is drilling in what has been deemed a national wildlife refuge in the United States. Were this a park or near to people, he would undoubtedly have been confronted already, possibly stopped."

"So why not just call someone and tell them what's goin' on?" inquired the New Yorker. "Wouldn't that be faster?"

"It might be initially," she explained, "but I get the feeling Greedly won't surrender without a fight, and nothing short of some well placed missiles will bring his derrick down if conventional arms are used, as the American government would be forced to do. It would eventually work, but the damage the missiles and his rampage could do could cost the land, sea, and animals much more."

She then affected an even more serious look and continued. "Planeteers, I must impress upon you the full commitment this job requires and just how dangerous it might be. To be a Planeteer, you must be on-call 24/7, as disasters may occur at any time, so you will live here on the island in the cluster of huts a short way away. On missions, there's no telling what may happen. You may be shot at, captured, tortured, even killed, depending on how desperate those who seek to gain from ruining the planet may be. But by accepting the risks and fighting for the earth, you will not only help it on your own, but you will become a beacon to others, an inspiration to humans of all races and ages to follow your examples and keep our world clean." She paused and then asked, "So, knowing the dangers involved, are there any of you who would like to back out now?"

The Planeteers looked at each other for a moment, and Linka finally stepped forward while the others, especially the redhead, held their breaths, wondering if she was about to turn in her resignation before even the first mission. "What about our families?" she asked. "Can you tell them for us vhere we are and that ve are okay?"

Gaia smiled, looking as relieved as the other Planeteers felt that the Soviet hadn't been thinking of quitting at all. "Of course I can, and I will do so as soon as you five are underway. But there's one more thing before you go, and that's uniforms." She waved her hand, and a series of different types of clothes appeared on racks that were also magically conjured. To the left were pants and shorts in various colors, all of a durable denim. In front of those sat sneakers in different colors and styles, and a small shelf with multicolored socks and belts was right nearby. In the middle of the display were shirts, both short-sleeved tees and longer-sleeved, collared blouses. To the right was the outerwear, jackets and vests, all in denim and all with multiple pockets for supplies.

"Choose what you would like to be your individual uniforms, Planeteers, for what you choose, with the exception of the outerwear, will be replicated in your huts while you're gone, though if you really want, those _could_ be changed in the future. But choose quickly, for time is of the essence. There's no need to worry about sizes, for, like your rings did, the clothes will change to properly fit you." Gaia waved her hand again, and five individual dressing booths with curtains for doors appeared. "And don't forget that it won't always be as tropical as it is here on the island, and these clothes are good at bleeding heat when it's warm."

When Gaia stopped talking, the five stepped forward and began to peruse the racks, and it quickly became apparent when they reached the clothes and ruffled through them that the common link, besides the material types of cotton and denim, was the large globes on the chests of each T-shirt in a variety of combinations of colors.

For his uniform, Kwame picked up a light green vest, a red, long-sleeved collared shirt, a blue tee, and dark green shorts, trying to emulate the theme of his power somewhat. The red standing out in it all was to represent the sacrifice he would gladly make to protect the planet.

The redhead quickly picked up a pair of blue jeans, his favorite style, to replace the faded, hole-kneed ones he had on, then grabbed a terra cotta jacket, the sleeves of which were thinner than the material in the torso to allow for easier movement. When he came to the shirts, he thought he would grab an orange or red one to go with his power, but then he noticed Linka selecting a brown pair of shorts and decided on something else entirely as he stepped to the blues and looked through the sky-blue ones until he found one that had a yellow globe with a red border.

Meanwhile, Linka had picked her shorts and chosen a yellow tee shirt from the middle that reminded her of the canaries she had taken care of when her father had been foreman of the iron mine near her town. The selection reminded her of how shortly after he'd died from a gas leak where no one had noticed the canary had already died, the town had chipped in for the purchase of a much more sophisticated electronic sensor system that would sound an audible alarm at a detection. Shaking her head to clear her reminiscences, she then picked out a purple blouse to go over the tee when she noticed that darn redheaded Yankee looking at her again. The less of her chest he could see, the better, and complementary colors were nice, anyway.

Gi's selection came easily as she picked simple brown shorts that were lighter than Linka's, a blue jacket that would suit her power and match the deep blue of the ocean waters, and a light magenta T-shirt with a blue-bordered, green globe on it, as the various shades of light red that were grouped under the catch-all label of "pink" were her second favorite color following the obvious blue.

Ma-Ti wasn't at all sure what to choose; after all, clothes were clothes, more of a functional thing, and decorations could serve for the personal preference, so he just wound up grabbing shorts and a short-sleeved jacket, being sepia- and khaki-colored, respectively. He did decide to choose a light tee blue shirt, though, one very similar to the color his father frequently used to wear.

As they finished choosing their clothes, the Planeteers went into the dressing booths, and Gaia waited patiently outside for them to emerge, the first of whom was Linka, who was picking at the colorful badges sewn onto her blue coat. Gaia watched, curious, finally asking, "What are you doing?"

Linka looked up from what she was doing and replied, "Oh, I am just tryink to get these patches off; I woult like to sew them onto this vest when I get the chance. They were a gift from my father long ago."

Gaia smiled. "Then allow me to help." She waved her hand, and the bright patches vanished from the coat and appeared on the vest in the exact same locations and positions as the rest of the Planeteers emerged from their booths.

"Thank you, Gaia!" Linka exclaimed, looking at the newly placed designs and noting the excellent stitches the magic had made.

Gaia nodded to Linka then addressed the entire group now assembled around, holding their old clothes in their arms, saying, "Leave your things, and I'll put them in your huts while you're gone. I've also taken the liberty of teleporting some of your more valued and important items there while you were changing, like your keyboard, Linka, and your mother's mementos, Ma-Ti." The five expressed their thanks, and now Gaia turned and pointed to a shining, yellow craft of some sort on the beach, not far away. "That plane there is called the Geo-Cruiser, and it will be your primary mode of transportation to travel around the world. Hurry there so that I can give you a crash course in flying it."

As she glided out towards it, the five Planeteers took off at a jog to catch up with her and reach the craft, the door of which was already open on the starboard side, right over the wing. Drawing nearer, they could see dark blue solar panels on the top side of the appendage, but it seemed stepping on them would not damage anything, as they were covered by some clear material and were also in the way of getting inside. Kwame climbed up onto the wing and hopped inside first then turned to face the others. "Does anyone have any knowledge of how to fly?"

At this, Gi stepped forward and raised her hand. "I have had a few flying lessons, but not many."

Kwame grinned and said, "That is better than nothing." He then went to the back and sat down starboardside in one of the six seats, trying not to give the impression that he was trying to take over the team. While Gi took the pilot's seat, Linka sat down behind her. She noted with some annoyance, yet also a bit of intrigue, that the American, who got in last after Ma-Ti, sat in the seat to her right rather than taking the co-pilot's seat by Gi, winking at her as he buckled up. Linka turned away, busying herself with fastening her own belt while the others did likewise and Gaia hovered outside the open hatch.

"The controls are simple enough," the spirit began to explain to the group. "Push the yoke forward to dive, pull to ascend, and rotate in either direction to barrel roll. So, to turn right, rotate the yoke clockwise and pull back." The Planeteers nodded in understanding, and Gaia continued, "The engines run off batteries that are continuously charged when light shines upon the solar cells, and propulsion is primarily through the rear engine. Steering is primarily using the repulsor system on the tips of the wings, edge of the nose, and edges of the main engine. Take off and landing can be either horizontal or vertical, using the main engine or central repulsors."

With this lengthy explanation, several of the Planeteers looked confused, with the exceptions of Gi and Linka as soon as the European had worked out the meaning of the English word "repulsor." Gaia chuckled. "Don't worry; there's a simulator here on the island you can practice with. For now, Gi, press the green 'VERTICAL LIFT' button and edge up the smaller throttles to increase the power. Once you're roughly two meters up, push forward the main throttle like normal to accelerate, as the main engine is primed as soon as the repulsors are engaged. The lifts will remain on to provide a constant altitude while flying straight and to allow you to hover, but they can be turned up in some risky emergency maneuvers that I hope you won't have to use before you have a chance to train. Now, follow the mark on the navigation computer in the dashboard, and good luck!"

Gaia waved and floated back to the ground, and the Yankee returned her gesture then turned his attention to the problem of shutting the door. "Uh, so how do we close this thing?" he asked no one in particular.

"There is a panel ahead of you on your right, Yankee," answered Linka. "Hit 'CLOSE'."

The American looked where she pointed and found the panel she was indicating. "Thanks," he said, as he closed the door. "How'd you know?"

She sat back in her seat and gestured to a similar one on her side. "There is a port door, too." He nodded in understanding at this, noting how observant she was and being impressed by it.

"Okay," said Gi, "let's try this out." She pushed the green button Gaia had talked about and slowly eased up the throttle levers as directed. The Geo-Cruiser rose smoothly, tipping to port slightly as Gi pushed one of the two adjacent throttles a bit ahead of the other one. "Sorry," she commented, fixing her mistake before reaching for the larger single lever below them. "Here goes!" She pushed it steadily forward, and the Geo-Cruiser took off at a much more rapid rate of acceleration than she had expected.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Ma-Ti. "This is powerful!"

"Yeah!" agreed the redhead. "Just like a roller coaster! Yahoo!"

A few moments later the Geo-Cruiser leveled off its airspeed, and Gi took the chance to turn towards the blinking red dot shown on the navigation computer. "There, that wasn't so bad," she proclaimed, "and it's actually a lot easier than flying a regular plane."

"That is good," replied Kwame. "How long until we reach our destination?"

Gi bit her lip as she started pushing likely looking buttons below the screen to access information about the preprogrammed destination. "Ah, here it is. Okay, approximately two and a half hours until we arrive."

"So," Kwame said, "we have plenty of time to get to know each other." He looked around the cabin. "Does anyone want to start?"

"Perhaps the Yankee shoult," suggested Linka. "After all, ve do not even know his name yet." She and the others looked at him expectantly, and he shuffled in his seat.

"Well, uh, okay," he started. "My name's Jake, or Jacob, really, but I don't really like to go by that. I prefer to be called Wheeler."

"A nickname?" inquired Ma-Ti.

Wheeler shook his head. "Nah, last name. Anyway, I lived my whole life in Brooklyn, New York, an' the farthest I ever got from there was goin' into the city twice on field trips." He shrugged. "I guess there's really not much to tell."

Gi turned in her seat to face him more. "Sure there is. What kinds of things do you like to do?"

He looked up, eying the approaching clouds as they continued to gain altitude. "Well, I like arcades, video games, comic books, Star Wars, Star Trek, relaxing, hanging out with friends, snowball fights… random stuff, I guess."

"What about any more outdoor activities?" prompted Kwame. "For instance, do you like to hike?"

"Or to swim?" added Gi.

Wheeler chuckled. "There's nowhere to hike in Brooklyn, unless you count walking to school, and, while I've taken a dip or two in pools, I've never gotten to swim in real water. Swimming at Brighton Beach is just a bad idea 'cause of all the pollution."

"Hmm," considered Linka, "I think ve may need to get you better acquainted with nature when ve return to Hope Island, Wheeler."

He grinned slyly and winked at her again before saying, "I think I'd rather get better acquainted with _you_, Babe." He noticed her glare and quickly added, "But, yeah, a group thing might be better at first. Say, did anyone else notice Gaia never told us how to land this thing?" Changing the subject seemed like a good bet right about now.

"It shouldn't be that hard," Gi surmised. "If the repulsors are on all the time, we should be able to lower their power to descend. It's really not that different from driving a car."

"Except that cars do not _have_ repulsors," piped up Ma-Ti. "Lucky for that simulator Gaia mentioned."

"And speaking of lucky, what are the odds that we would all be able to speak English?" wondered Kwame. "After all, how could I have known I would be a Planeteer when I elected to learn it?"

"It was mandatory for me," said Gi as she continued to poke around at the computer controls.

"It vas the same for me," added Linka. "That and French."

"My grandfather knew a woman in a nearby village who could speak English for when tourists or photographers from that _Geographic_ magazine would come," said Ma-Ti. "He would send me there to study, so that is how I know. He thought I should know more than just Portuguese and Kayapo. He even took lessons, himself."

Wheeler whistled, impressed, and said, "Yeah, definitely lucky, 'cause the only bit of foreign language I know is in Spanish to ask where the bathroom is, and then I wouldn't be able to understand the reply." He looked over at Linka. "I've never been that big into languages. Say, how do you say, 'Where's the bathroom?' in Russian?"

"'Gdye vannaya?'" Linka replied. "But you seem to have distracted us from the original topic of conversation."

"Hey, that's right!" he said. "Tell us about yourself."

She looked slightly surprised at his sudden insistence of finding out about her. "Vell, I live, or lived, by Moscow, and I like computers and bird watching. Birds are my favorite animal, and the canary is my favorite species. What about you, Gi?"

Gi stopped playing with the computer functions to answer. "I love swimming, surfing… pretty much anything having to do with the ocean, and I especially love dolphins. They're such wonderful animals. Kwame?"

"Well," the tall teen began, "I like forests and trees and enjoy walking through them for hours on end, and my favorite animal is the majestic elephant. Ma-Ti?"

Ma-Ti looked thoughtful for a moment, finally saying, "Well, I love all plants and animals, especially since my grandfather, the shaman of our tribe, taught me so much about everything in the rainforest."

"What about that monkey you had with ya? You know, the one you stopped from killing me," Wheeler said. "He got a name?"

"Actually, no," replied Ma-Ti, looking pensive. "I had never even seen him before today. I guess I should name him." He looked at the computer panel set into the chair in front of him, debating. "I think I will name him Suchi."

* * *

Some time later, during which the new Planeteers continued to make chitchat and discover various facts about each other, the Geo-Cruiser was ever nearer to her destination, and while Kwame and Ma-Ti were deep in conversation and Gi continued to explore the functions of the main computer, occasionally emitting an understanding "Ah" or "Oh, I see," Linka was trying to instruct Wheeler on the correct pronunciation of "Gdye vannaya?" 

"Um, jye vaniya?" he tried, to which she shook her head.

"It is vannaya. Be sure to say the second syllable as an 'ah' sound, or you will be asking where Ivan is. Vannaya."

"Vannaya."

"Much better," she said, smiling. "Now ve must work on the first one. It is not a jay sound; rather, it is gee and dee next to each other, and the dee is soft, which means the y from 'ye' is incorporated into it." Wheeler simply looked confused, so she grinned sheepishly and said, "Sorry. Forget about makink it soft. Here, I will sound it out slowly for you, leaving it hard. 'G'-dee-ye.'"

"Oh!" he said, looking more comprehensive. "So it's like in Australia when they say, 'G'day, mate.'"

She frowned, considering. "Mm, I suppose a little bit, but there is not such a pause between the gee and dee."

"Hmm… g'-diye. G'diye. G'diye vannaya?"

Linka chuckled at his Brooklynite accent. "You almost haff it. Now ve must work on the proper way to ask a question." Before she could continue, however, a chime sounded from the dashboard, drawing everyone's attention.

"What was that?" inquired Ma-Ti, trying not to show his nervousness, as this was the first time he'd ever flown.

"It means we're nearly there," the pilot replied. "It shouldn't be long now."

Wheeler chuckled. "And then we get to try to land. But, hey, you keep sayin' it's no harder than a car, but if _that's_ true, then, hey, how come you get to fly this thing?"

"_You_ have a driver's license?" Gi countered, knowing full well most New Yorkers didn't have a need for one.

"Well, no," Wheeler answered, as even if his family were to be part of the small group that owned cars in New York, he wouldn't be able to obtain a license until the legal driving age of eighteen, of which he was still eight months shy.

Gi chuckled. "Heh, that's why."

The others laughed as well, and Wheeler tried not to let show that he cared that one had been gotten up on him, especially in front of Linka, whose laughter troubled him the most. "You know, this has been a pretty weird day," he stated once their amusement had subsided. He looked at his ring, studying the flame design in it, and explained, "One minute I'm a kid from Brooklyn, the next minute I'm some sorta cut-rate superhero flying off to battle some pig-faced polluter!" He still felt like he was Luke Skywalker, just a nobody until he discovered an extraordinary power with which he could save the day. He looked up at the girl sitting next to him and just hoped it wouldn't turn out that she was his long-lost twin sister, too.

Linka sighed, not noticing his glance as she steepled her hands in front of her and looked ambiguously out the window, also not quite believing this could be entirely possible and sharing the nervousness they all felt as their first challenge drew closer. After all, Gaia had said they could be tortured, injured, or even killed, and she wasn't sure exactly what they could do when they reached Greedly. "If only Gaia could be wit' us," she wished, expressing her concern that their mentor had sent them out with almost no instruction. Improvisation was something with which she was fine, but in this situation they had no idea, even, what all their rings were capable of.

"She is, Linka," said Ma-Ti from behind her as he leaned forward in his seat. "Watch!" He pointed his ring out the front window and said, "Heart."

The same wavy, yellow lines appeared again, and a semi-transparent, hugely magnified image of Gaia's head appeared in the sky in front of them, making a very startled Gi, who had not been able to see what Ma-Ti had been doing, feel like she would have jumped out of her skin had she not been belted into the seat with it. However, before she could voice an admonition to Ma-Ti to warn her next time, Gaia's image assured, "Don't worry, Planeteers. Though I need to stay at Hope Island, I will be with you in spirit."

She disappeared from the sky, and Wheeler, who saw that this would in no way help them, commented with a grin, "Fat lotta good that'll do us in a firefight." Immediately his ring grew warm and shot a burst of fire that thankfully arced down and hit the floor, which ignited and started to burn, the magical flame even able to cause metal to catch fire.

"Wheeler!" shouted Ma-Ti. "Don't say, 'Fire,' until you mean it!" Wheeler stared at the flames and then his ring, realizing that if he had been pointing it at his leg, he would have burned himself, or, worse, if the beam had shot straight or he'd been aiming it higher, it would have meant he would've hit Linka. He would have to learn to control his ring better so that he could speak freely and not hurt someone.

He was still staring at his cooling ring when Gi pointed her own at the blaze to his left and shouted, "Water!" This caused an overhead fire-suppressant system in the back to turn its nozzle as the water within pushed against it and shoot out a spray of water that smothered the blaze and chilled the deck so that all that remained was a puddle and a small bit of blackened, slightly warped flooring.

Gaia, perhaps having sensed the disturbance or perhaps having been listening all along, showed herself again and advised, "You must have faith in yourselves, Planeteers, because you're fighting for the good of the whole world."

Kwame then addressed her, bringing to the discussion the concern they all felt about going off against something as huge as Greedly's mobile oil drill. "And if we encounter a situation which we cannot handle?"

"Well," Gaia said, smiling like she knew a secret about which she was dying to give them hints, "just put your powers together. Then you'll _really_ be surprised." Without a further word of information, she once again vanished, and Wheeler quickly unbuckled and stood up in an attempt to get her attention.

"Oh, wait a minute," he demanded. "What's 'at s'posta mean?"

"Sit down, Yankee," Gi told him, noting how his Brooklyn accent got more extreme when he was acting indignant.

"And fasten the seatbelt for your safety," added Linka.  
He grinned at her. "Hey, didn't know you cared," he flirted, receiving only a shunning turn from him in response. Boy, was she tough, but that only heightened his determination.

When she gasped, she thought that maybe she had thought of something to say back to him, but her next statement of "It is horrible!" left him confused until she continued, "The whole coastline is being destroyed!"

The others looked out the port side as well, seeing below the oily fate Greedly's selfish actions had bestowed on the unfortunate wildlife. It was even worse seeing it in person rather than on the crystal screen, and the spill had spread even farther in the nearly three hours it had been since the Planeteers had first learned of the emergency. Ma-Ti nervously bit his lip as he allowed his ring to open to the plight of the creatures and found his previous hypothesis proven true; it was much more clear here, directly over all the suffering. "Those poor animals," he lamented. "We must help them!"

"We will," declared Kwame, further prioritizing, "but first we have to stop the oil spill. Gi," he said, starting to allow his natural leadership to take control of the situation, "land on that deck."

"Right," she agreed, and she turned the Geo-Cruiser to head straight for it, wondering what kind of monster could sully such beauty for his own gain. "Do you think we'll be able to talk to him?" she mused aloud.

"I hope so," said Ma-Ti, "but something tells me it will be useless."

"Look," Kwame interrupted, pointing at a nozzle now aiming in their direction. "What do you suppose that is?" His answer came a minute later as it suddenly gushed something dark and shining that was aimed higher than they; however, gravity pulled it down in a gentle arc, and what turned out to be the oil Greedly was harvesting splattered the entire craft, getting into the repulsor controls before Gi could evade, killing all forms of propulsion.

"We're being hit!" cried Gi, wrestling with the unresponsive yoke, to no avail.

"Man," joked Wheeler, trying to lighten up their dire situation as best he could, "these guys are really rude with crude!"

Gi tugged harder on the yoke, still failing to move it any. "The controls are jammed!" she yelped, feeling panic rise as the Geo-Cruiser, with a repulsor stuck on somewhere, began to tumble in an unsteady glide as the lifts cut out. "We're going down!"

At this proclamation, the despair started to rise in the others, as well, as it seemed that Gaia's warning was about to come true. "Geez, we didn't even do anything!" Wheeler whined. "We didn't even threaten him or anything!" He clung to the edge of his seat, wondering what would happen when the craft hit the water, while Gi's knuckles were turning white from how hard she was pulling.

"We're going to crash!" Gi shouted, on the verge of tears, as this wasn't at all how she'd imagined her day going when she'd left for the shore that morning.

"No," Kwame stated with resolve, "we are not." His calm voice amidst the disaster brought the others back to their senses, and they turned to look to him for direction. "Linka, your Wind power!"

"But of course!" she replied, wondering how she could have forgotten being lifted into the air on her very first try. She was about to use her ring immediately, but then she realized she had no idea if it could go through the window, especially when it was coated in oil. After all, their rings were designed to fight pollution, so it almost seemed to make sense that it wouldn't go through it without either doing something to it or simply being blocked. But she had no way of opening the door, as the controls for that were likewise jammed up by the oil, and there was not enough time to get everyone together to push against it to open it at the airspeed they were traveling.

With a grim acceptance, she stood and looked at Wheeler. His was the only power that might be able to help if he could melt the connections and free the door, but the danger that the crude oil might have a low fire point made it a risky maneuver. Of course, if they did nothing, they would die anyway. "Vheeler, take out door!" she said with a point, forgetting in her hurry the need for an article in the English language.

Fortunately, this slip did not change the meaning of her command or make it any less intelligible, and Wheeler leaned towards the door, aiming his ring. "You got it, Russkiy Tootskie," he agreed, and before she had much time to wonder where on earth he had come up with such a nickname and why he was using the masculine form, he shouted, "Fire!" and shot a blast at the door.

The rest watched, holding their breaths, as the flames hit in the center and spread to every edge, flaring hot enough to melt metal. Linka could see tiny, molten rivulets flowing down the seams and prayed the cool, rushing outside air was enough to not only keep the external portion cool but to also sweep away enough oil vapor so as to keep it out of the ideal percentages needed to start a fire.

A moment later, the fore seam had melted through, and the higher pressure of the stationary air within pushed against the door, and as soon as it had edged out even a little, the air caught it and flung it from the vehicle, the flames still licking it dying another second later.

Thankful her idea had worked and not gotten them roasted alive, Linka sat back down in her seat and pointed her fist out the window and mentally prepared herself for what she was about to do. Earlier, when she had used her power for the first time, the energy drain had not been extreme, but it was noticeable, taxing her body and mind just enough to be registered. Here, as she leaned into the rushing air that whipped her hair around, she knew it would be much harder, as the Geo-Cruiser not only weighed much more than she did, but it was also traveling through the atmosphere and so would require a moving tornado to catch it. "Now, Wind!" she said, focusing on what she wanted to create. Her ring burst forth with a shower of light that flew below the Geo-Cruiser and began to circle around in the now familiar, tiny strands in the small twister that caught the Cruiser and slowed not only its vertical velocity but also most of its horizontal speed, quieting in the process the near-deafening sound the air had been making by the hatchway.

Immediately, she felt her strength begin to wane at an alarming rate. Using the powers must be something like being in shape for exercise; that is, the more practice they got, the better and longer they'd be able to use them. Unfortunately, that knowledge could not help them at the moment as Linka struggled to hold on.

Gi, unable to see how quickly Linka was tiring, gave a grin and declared, "You did it! We'll land safely now!"

"No," Linka countered, now having to split her concentration between her ring and explaining the situation. "I cannot get us to land. We'll still hit water and sink!"

"No, we will not," said Kwame, having been considering how best to salvage the situation and thinking that if he could create a hole, he could create a hill. "Leave it to me," he advised, gently pushing Linka back into her seat not only to make room for him to get by but also so that she could conserve what energy she had left. "Earth."

All of the Planeteers watched, nervous at the fading streaks of light-blue light, as a small mesa suddenly broke the surface of the water below the Geo-Cruiser, allowing Linka to guide the ship to it and set it down on the rock, and the group let loose a thankful cheer of, "Go, Planeteers!"

As soon as they had landed, everyone who was still seated unbuckled and stood, Linka noticing that her energy was coming back quickly since she had ceased using her power, and, as hers was the only open door, she climbed out and hopped off the wing to the ground, only a tiny bit off-balance.

Wheeler, who came out after Kwame, who was second, came up to her and asked, "Hey, you okay?"

"Fine," 'she replied, frowning at his pushiness and wondering what, exactly, his ultimate goal was, or whether it could simply be that he was only concerned about her in this instant.

Gi was the last to disembark, and, as soon as she had done so, Kwame said, "Okay, Planeteers, we need to reach shore immediately."

"There's a small boat kit on the starboard side by the main engine," informed Gi, having come across the information earlier in a schematics diagram in the computer. She ran to that side and tugged at the manual release, having trouble because of the oily residue limiting the friction she could obtain. Then the door came open, and she started pulling out the parts stacked in there.

"Hey, cool," blurted Wheeler as he and the others came around the deadened engine, "there's a megaphone in there!"

"Good idea, Wheeler," Gi said, grabbing the device and tossing it at him. "You're the loudest, so why don't you try to reason with him?"

Wheeler caught it against his chest and laughed as the others started to set up the skiff. "You're kidding, right? Reason with a guy who just shot us down for no reason whatsoever?"

Linka looked up from the base she and Ma-Ti were working on, ordering, "Just do it, Yankee."

"Yes, ma'am!" He grinned and saluted, but before he could say anything, Greedly's voice came booming across the water, and Ma-Ti went to stand with Wheeler and Gi to see what he was up to.

"Greetings, strange ship," Greedly began, and Kwame wondered how the villain could have the audacity to attempt such relatively civil conversation after all he had done and was still doing. "Who are you, anyway?"

"We're the Planeteers, you greedy, pollution-causing creep," Wheeler angrily shouted back into the megaphone while Kwame and Linka picked up a dorsal stabilizer to slide in place on the tail. "And as soon as we get our boat set up, we're gonna sail over there and kick your curly, pink tail." Ma-Ti cringed, feeling that it was probably not the best idea to broadcast their exact plans. "And don't bother shooting your crude," Wheeler continued, brandishing his glowing ring, "'cause I'll personally vaporize every drop before it hits us." As he said this, he knew that would cause the resulting smoke and fumes to get into the atmosphere, but he and the others would be of little use to the animals and water if they were slipping and sliding in an oily mud bath.

Greedly snorted in laughter and said, "Oh, I'm sure you could, Planeteer, so I won't bother shooting at you." His derrick abruptly swung the arm that had shot down the Geo-Cruiser around to point at the nearby rocks. "I'll warn ya; mind your own business, or my next blast of crude will land on your furry friends onshore." The Planeteers followed where it was aiming and stood still in shock, appalled that Greedly would initiate such a dire standoff and use innocent animals as his ultimatum.

"I think," Wheeler said with a sigh, "we got problems."

"Vhat are we goink to do?" Linka asked. She had been afraid this might happen when facing off against something so huge while having so little training.

"Well, we must do something," Kwame stated obviously, mulling over their options. Any attack would prompt Greedly and Rigger to deliberately coat the walruses on the targeted rocks with unrefined fossil fuels. "That derrick is _still_ spilling oil." Indeed, while Greedly had one pipe threatening the rocky coast, there was one more plunged deep into the water and causing the slick oil to bubble to the surface around it.

"Every second we delay, more of the coastline becomes polluted," said Gi, staring in horror at the long stretch of rock, sand, and water covered by the inky mixture. A quick glance up and down the shore showed no end of oil to one side, where the natural movement of the water caused by the Coriolis Effect was sweeping it as it escaped the protective barriers the jetties created. But those same jetties allowed the oil to spread in the other direction, as well, largely unaffected by the tide, and so most of the visible coast to that side was just as blackened as the other. "The animals are threatened!"

"But if we attack the derrick," Ma-Ti reminded them, echoing Kwame's earlier thoughts on the dilemma, "Greedly will bury them in pollution!"

With no other options he could see, Kwame told the others, "The situation is more than we can handle, Planeteers. We need help."

"You mean…" Linka prompted, trailing off as she wondered what the unrevealed event Gaia had hinted at could be.

Kwame nodded. "Exactly. We must do as Gaia advised. We must combine our powers."

"Let's do it!" Wheeler exclaimed, being more careful this time about pounding a fist into his hand for emphasis. He was eager to see this surprise of Gaia's.

"Then let our powers combine," said Kwame, taking the lead again in a way that somehow felt right. He pointed his hand into the center of the circle they'd formed and said, "Earth."

Like usual, his ring shot out bright-green light, but, instead of affecting the ground around them in any way, it coalesced into a green ball hovering in midair as though it knew to wait for the other powers. "Fire!" Wheeler said next, as it seemed to be his turn, and his power caused the ball of light to grow and turn a yellowish green.

"Wind," Linka said, and her power turned the orb a light green as the sky-blue mixed in.  
"Water!" With Gi's power, the sphere became light blue.

"Heart!" With this final power, his connection to the animals cut off, and the ball turned a brilliant, light gold before splintering into a rainbow of colors that was bright enough to turn everything else dark in comparison.

Stunned, the Planeteers watched as the swirling colors formed into the shape of a man fully two meters tall. As he hovered in front of them, they could see he had powder blue, crystalline skin that looked very similar to the crystals seen in abundance on Hope Island. On his hands, shoulders, and pelvis was a red material that did not quite seem to be clothes so much as a part of him, and in the center of his chest, a circular globe shone gold. His brown eyes had a playful yet still serious look in them, and his green hair was mostly straight but for a small curl in the front, and it ended in a noticeable mullet in the back. The air around him seemed to sparkle with purity, though Linka mused it might also have been his aura destroying minute bits of pollution.

"By your powers combined," the man said with a voice that seemed to come from everywhere at once with perfect clarity," I am Captain Planet!"

Suddenly, Captain Planet shot through the air amidst a chorus of "Go, Planet!" from the Planeteers, and flew high above the ground as though glad to be soaring as he was doing, and they prayed he would be able to take care of the oil spill and all its devastation.

Captain Planet's appearance seemed to have unnerved Greedly, though, for his machine began to turn towards land and attempt an escape, its pipe snapping off in the water, and as Wheeler pointed out, "Greedly's getting' away!" the blue hero landed beside them.

"And he's letting all the oil spill into the ocean!" added Gi, sincerely hoping this one man could fix all the damage.

"What do you want us to do, Captain Planet?" asked Ma-Ti, ready to take whatever action was necessary to salvage the situation.

Captain Planet smiled and spoke in a friendly voice, "Your rings are temporarily useless while I'm here," he said, and the Planeteers' spirits dropped slightly, "but I am your powers combined and magnified. For now, I'll handle Greedly and the spill. You can help those animals."

"Right," Ma-Ti said, nodding, and the superhero shot off into the air again.

"Go, Planet," they cheered again and then ran to the small boat that was one part shy of being finished.

Kwame snapped it into place, saying, "Gi, you are the best on the water. Can you drive?"

"Sure thing," she replied, and the five of them pushed the craft to the edge of the plateau and set it into the sea, after which Wheeler held onto the tail as Gi hopped into the front of the compartment and studied the controls while waiting for the others.

Wheeler was especially pleased when both Ma-Ti and Kwame happened to get behind Gi in that order, which meant that Linka would be forced to sit in front of _him_, but he managed to keep a neutral face when she glanced warily at him before getting in behind Kwame. Finally, with a broad grin, Wheeler leapt into the boat and pushed it as best he could away from the mesa. "Let's go!" he exclaimed.

Gi turned on the craft and started across the relatively short span of water to a sandy point on the shore, and Linka glared at the back of Kwame's neck, wondering if Wheeler had somehow planned this or gotten the others to get in before her on purpose, though he wasn't going so far as to try anything rash. Perhaps it was a coincidence after all.

With this happier thought in mind, she turned her attention to where Captain Planet was and watched with the others as he dove into a clean patch of water just outside the oily area. For a moment nothing else happened, but then a whirlpool began to form, sucking into it anything on the surface, which certainly included the oil; it would have included the skiff, too, had it not been far away and already bumping up against land.

"Okay, everyone out!" directed Gi, and they all climbed from the yellow boat and pulled it through the frigid water the rest of the way to the beach, on which they dragged it high enough that the water couldn't wash it away anytime soon, the sand sticking to their drenched shoes and socks as they did so.

By the time they had gotten it far enough away from the water, Captain Planet was already nearly finished with the cleaning job. "Captain Planet's doin' it!" Wheeler said excitedly, pointing out over the ocean. "He's suckin' the oil back!"

"Go, Planet!" exclaimed Gi, fighting to keep joyful tears from spilling forth, as now the marine life would be safe once more, and she hurried to the nearest animals with the others.

The sound of a large crash, however, caused them all to stop in their tracks and turn around to see the broken piece of one of Greedly's tubes stuck into a beachside trashcan that had, miraculously, survived the impact, and now Captain Planet flew up to the derrick, which had meanwhile made it back to land, only to be caught in one of its hands and held fast.

"He is trapped!" shouted Linka, gasping as whoever was at the controls brought to bear some sort of spike, and all five youths cried out in horror as it began pounding into Captain Planet's chest.

"Those monsters!" Kwame exclaimed. "How could they?"

"No, look!" Gi said, disbelieving what she was seeing. "It's not hurting him at all!"

It turned out that she was right, as the spike was merely bouncing off Captain Planet time after time, causing him to actually laugh about it before he easily broke free and tied the two arms together in the blink of an eye.

"He is incredible," said Ma-Ti, feeling sure that Captain Planet would be able to take care of Greedly as easily as he was taking care of Rigger at that moment, dropping him into the trash can by the one he had previously used for the pipe.

But when Captain Planet flew into the derrick by punching a hole in its underside, he emerged just a few seconds later, free-falling to the ground and landing with a thud on his back. "Captain Planet!" Ma-Ti yelled before turning to the others. "Come on! Captain Planet's in trouble!"

Worried, the Planeteers ran up to his motionless form and could see that he was covered in some sort of dark substance that was different from the crude oil Greedly had shot at the Cruiser earlier. As soon as they reached him, Wheeler kneeled down beside his head, trying not to panic and asking, "Captain Planet, what's wrong?"

The superhero groaned, either very weak or in a lot of pain, likely both. "The toxic waste… draining my strength," he said, confirming for Linka the hypothesis that her power would not have gone through the oil if Captain Planet were so affected by pollution.

"We must do something to help him," stated Kwame, reaching around the hero's chest to lift him as he'd done several times before at home whenever someone had gotten hurt, but, try as he might, Captain Planet was far too heavy for him to lift, and as he slipped off and fell back with a grunt, Kwame understood why the hammering device had not hurt him. Whatever he was made of, it was far harder and denser than normal organic materials.

"Look!" Wheeler said, drawing Kwame's attention to the Captain. "The globe on his chest! It's glowing!" Where Kwame's hand had brushed across it and wiped away the toxic substance, the yellow circle was now gleaming in the bit of sunlight that could reach it, which gave Kwame an idea.

"Quickly," he said, turning to the others behind him, "bring some water."

At this Gi perked up, raising her ring. "Water? No problem." But her ring failed to activate, and she remembered with dismay what Captain Planet had said about the rings being useless. "Oops, I forgot," she admitted. "I don't have my power."

"Then we must improvise," Linka told her, grabbing Gi's wrist and tugging her towards the surf.

"Of course," said Gi as they ran, "the water is clean now." She frowned, a new thought occurring to her. "But what can we carry it in?"

Linka was already removing her vest and blouse as she said, "I noticed when ve made land that while the jackets and vests are not entirely waterproof, they do resist water initially." She made sure the sleeves of her blouse were still through the arm holes on the vest before handing that side to Gi. "We vill only get one shot at this, I think, but if we hurry, we can help Captain Planet."

Gi nodded in understanding and helped her scoop up several liters of seawater, with which they then trotted awkwardly back up the beach.

* * *

No sooner had the girls left than the boys were distracted by the sound of moving machinery and gasped when they saw the behemoth walking once more. "Look out!" shouted Ma-Ti, "Greedly's starting to turn the machine around!" 

"And it's coming right towards us!" added Kwame when he noticed one of its feet heading their way.

Wheeler rapidly calculated, realizing that Greedly was set up perfectly to land the foot directly where the three of them were sitting with Captain Planet. A glance around showed nothing nearby to help but a small boulder several yards away. "Quick," Wheeler urged, hoping the boulder was lighter than the superhero, "roll that rock over here to protect Captain Planet!"

They ran for the large stone, Ma-Ti feeling dubious that they could get it there in time, and a look down the beach revealed Linka and Gi still far away, in the water. Nevertheless, he and Kwame joined Wheeler in pushing against the boulder.

Kwame grunted as he shoved against the rock with the other two, adrenaline strengthening him and allowing him to push more forcefully than he normally might have been able to, and, as soon as the rock began to move, he and the others intensified their efforts in order to use the principle of inertia to keep it going mainly through momentum.

They reached Captain Planet's still form just as the mechanical foot came crashing down overhead, causing all three to duck reflexively and run out from under the pad, knowing they could do no more to help until the girls arrived. As they crouched just on the side of safety, they watched with trepidation as the boulder began to splinter under the pressure and send small shards of itself tumbling to the dirt below. The rock was actually lasting longer than Wheeler had thought, so perhaps the derrick was mostly hollow, relying on alloys and triangular truss supports for its strength and thereby reducing its weight.

"We got the water!" Gi announced, turning the boys' attention to see her and Linka carrying the liquid in Linka's vest and blouse. With a grunt, the two crouched under the pad and heaved the water directly onto the faded, yellow globe.

The toxic substance, evidently soluble in water, was washed away instantly, and the small bit of residue that remained was not enough to stop a ray of sunlight that was slipping past the edge of the foot from energizing the globe, which began to glow brightly once more.

"It's working," remarked Kwame as Gi and Linka retreated to safety with the others.

Wheeler grinned. "The sun's chargin' 'im back up!" No way could this day get any weirder, he mused, unless an alien spaceship showed up with Elvis onboard, because witnessing the solar recharging of a blue and red superhero either meant he was reading Superman comics or that he'd really seen it all.

Captain Planet's eyes opened, and the air around him began to glitter again. "By… your… powers… combined…," he began with rising energy, and there was a brilliant streak of light just as the foot finally shattered the boulder and pounded into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust that blinded the Planeteers and caused them to choke on particles of dirt as they inhaled them, unsure whether or not Captain Planet had escaped.

Gi squinted through the cloud at a gleaming patch of light a few meters away. "Look!" she said, and she and the others ran towards it, seeing once they were in clear air again that it was a rejuvenated Captain Planet standing in a supercharged beam of sunlight that faded to normal as the five approached.

"I feel like a brand new hero," Captain Planet commented when he saw them.

"You are," replied Wheeler in an awed voice, still not quite believing that an actual superhero was standing in front of him.

"Yeah," agreed, Captain Planet, "and you're brand new heroes, too, Planeteers. Thanks for _your_ help. Now," he said, gesturing for them to stand back, which they did, "if you'll excuse me…" And with that he shot into the air again and flew straight for the underside of the derrick, going for the legs rather than risk being blasted with toxic waste again. Within a matter of seconds, he had destroyed enough of the supports that the machine started to list to one side before falling slowly to the earth, sending up a much larger cloud of dirt than before that obscured everything around it.

Once the dust had settled, Captain Planet flew back inside, presumably looking for Greedly, but he soared out again after only a few moments and hovered in the air, peering around the beach. "Did he lose him?" wondered Linka. "How could such a large man have gotten avay so quickly?"

"I do not know," replied Ma-Ti, who was also wondering about the same, seemingly impossible occurrence.

Finally giving up his search, Captain Planet came down to the Planeteers, saying, "Well, the crisis is over, but Greedly's gone, and I can't find him anywhere. Well," he continued, "I guess now I can clean off the Geo-Cruiser for you so that you can get back home." With that he flew out over the water to the small island and began to work on the craft.

"'Home,'" echoed Linka.

"Yes," replied Gi, sitting down on the shore as she watched the Cruiser glow with whatever Captain Planet was doing to it. "I guess Hope Island is our home now."

"Which will take some getting used to," added Ma-Ti as Captain Planet even took the time to find the missing door and weld it into place.

Wheeler shrugged and sat. "Hey, it's a heck of a lot better than New York. The place is a paradise!" he said, not mentioning how relieved he was to not have to listen to his parents' arguing anymore, and he wondered what they had made of a translucent being appearing in the apartment and telling them their only son was now a hero stationed on some island all the way on the other side of the world.

The others nodded in agreement, Linka and Ma-Ti also sitting as they watched Captain Planet pick up the entire Geo-Cruiser and fly back with it to set it down a short way behind them, after which he came back. "There you go, Planeteers, good as new, except for the door, but it'll hold for your flight to the island."

Kwame nodded in thanks and sat down with the others, saying, "It is good that Greedly was stopped." Never before had he seen such devastation, and if thirty minutes ago someone had told him it could be cleaned up in ten, he would have laughed. Now, seeing only tiny bits of pollution remaining and having seen all that Captain Planet had done, he felt sure the team would be able to keep the earth safe.

"Yeah," replied Captain Planet, "but I've got a feeling you'll see 'im again, and when you do, call me."

"We will," promised Kwame.

"All right!" exclaimed Wheeler, still pumped from the day's exciting work. "What now, Captain Planet?"

The superhero smiled and said, "My work here is done, but yours is just beginning, Planeteers, and remember…" The Planeteers watched in surprise as Captain Planet dropped his normal, human form and seemingly condensed himself into a sphere of light, but when he next spoke, it seemed not to come from the orb; rather, it came from everywhere around them. "The power… is… yours!"

At once, the orb began distributing powers to the Planeteers' rings in reverse order from the way in which they had been combined, and, when it had finished and disappeared, the Planeteers looked at their rings for a few moments more, mulling over all that had happened.

"So, is Captain Planet inside our rings?" wondered Gi, staring at the mesmerizing, blue gem.

"Dunno," said Wheeler, who hadn't thought about it before now. "Kinda seems like it."

Kwame considered this and said, "Well, I suppose we will have to ask Gaia about it when we return." He stood and continued, "For now, we must clean up the animals and any last bit of pollution left over."

The others stood, as well, brushing the damp sand off them as they did. "Let me see if I can tell the animals that help is on the way," suggested Ma-Ti, who could feel their pain once more, and he held out his ring, saying, "Heart!" As his power extended his senses across the entire area that had been affected, the despair, agony, and fear intensified exponentially as he opened himself fully to all the animals on the beach. It was like nothing he had ever experienced before, and he shut his eyes to better concentrate.

"Is he okay?" whispered Gi as Ma-Ti started to sweat and grit his teeth.

"If he weren't, he'd stop using his power," replied Wheeler with a frown. "I think, anyway."

Unaware of his teammates' concerns, Ma-Ti tried to project feelings of relief and hope, also imagining the now clean beach and assuring the animals that they would soon be just as clean and oil-free.

Though they could not actually project words to him, their suffering began to ease as they started to believe the presence and what it told them, and their resultant gratitude flooded into him. However, many animals had already died, and Ma-Ti's reassurances could do nothing to bring them back or to console their surviving family members, nor would he offer false hope to the creatures the Planeteers could not help, the insects, the tiny, shallow-water fish, or those other animals who were too far away for the Planeteers to be able to reach them before they died. The best he could do was to tell them no more oil would come to harm their loved ones or them any more.

The task finished, Ma-Ti opened his eyes and realized that he was shaking and that the others were looking at him in worry. "I am fine," he told them before any of the others could ask. He affected a brighter voice and said, "Let us get started on cleaning them up!"

Linka nodded. "Let us check the Geo-Cruiser for supplies." They followed her to where Captain Planet had set the yellow vehicle down, and Linka and Kwame went inside, going to a storage cabinet in the back and retrieving some plain metal buckets, scrubbing brushes, and a detergent that would bind to both oil and water. Of course, it would remove the natural oils from the birds' feathers, as well, and the birds would have to be evaluated and medicated before being allowed to take to the water, but Linka knew that the oils would replenish quickly enough and that Ma-Ti could surely manage to keep them from the water.

The two exited the small plane and distributed supplies, and, as Gi took a bucket, the Water Planeteer remarked, "Now we must figure out how best to use our powers."

"That's an easy one for you," commented Wheeler as he took a bucket and a brush. "You can rinse and get water and stuff. But what the heck can I do?" He looked at his ring, wondering how such a destructive element could be considered good for the planet.

"You can heat up the water once it is in the buckets," Linka pointed out, smirking, "and then you can scrub."

"Yeah?" he asked, eyebrows raised in challenge, "and what'll _you_ be doing?"

"Oh, do not vorry," she replied, lifting a bucket and brush up for herself. "I will be scrubbink, too. As for my power, I can use it to dry the birds once we haff cleaned them."

"Well, if we're going to scrub, we'll need some… Water!" Gi commanded, pointing her ring towards the ocean, where blue light from the gem hovered slightly over the water before lifting it and sending it soaring towards the Planeteers. As it grew nearer, she increased her concentration in the hopes of refining her technique from her first use, where the uncontrolled blast had knocked over everything, so that she wouldn't simply toss the buckets aside in the impact. Luckily, it was not that hard to control for something as general as the wide, open top of a bucket, and each of them was filled with only a small bit of water splashing out, which faded quickly into the damp sand as it was absorbed.

Once the buckets were filled, Linka poured a small amount of the eco-friendly detergent into them and closed up the bottle, saying, "There, that should do for now, but ve haff plenty more when we need it."

Kwame nodded and said, "Now we must go find the animals so that we can help them." However, when he and the others turned from the buckets around which they had been standing, they saw that hordes of walruses, pelicans, and seagulls were already making their way to the stunned Planeteers, looking for help.

"Uh, did you call them, Ma-Ti?" asked Gi.

Ma-Ti shook his head and said, "No, but maybe they could sense where I was when I contacted them."

"Hey," commented Wheeler, "makes our job easier if we don't hafta track 'em down." He crouched down by his bucket and stirred the water up with his brush in order to evenly distribute the detergent within. "Geez," he said, removing his hand. "That's cold! Fire!" Upon evocation, the usual red beam shot out, but, as it was hitting water and not something flammable, it merely dissipated into the liquid, which began to steam, stopping short of boiling. At this he cut the power and gingerly held his hand over it before dipping a finger in. When it wasn't scalded off, he announced, "I think it's okay, guys," and stood to heat the other buckets.

* * *

Within only an hour, after the Planeteers had called for support but still had yet to see any reach the remote area, they had already discovered new ways to use their powers in the process of cleaning up. Kwame had realized that he could use his ring to return the oil remaining on the beach back down to the rock below the water table by telling the ground to absorb it and allow it to settle, and he had set off walking down the beach to complete this task upon finding out. Gi, of course, had found it best to stay with the scrubbing and rinse the animals off once they had been cleaned, at which point Linka would take over and dry them off. They had also found out accidentally when Wheeler forgot to get around to scrubbing an animal on which he had put detergent that allowing it to sit on the oil would actually cause the cleaner to form a precipitate on which, once it dried, Linka could use her ring to blow the formed particles away. Ma-Ti had found himself frequently using his power to reassure the animals who were losing hope because of how long the process was taking, and he was also able to locate the few animals who would survive but couldn't make it under their own steam to the central point where the Planeteers were stationed. Wheeler, for the most part, was limited to heating up the buckets whenever either they grew too cold or Gi refilled them, though he did plan on going with Ma-Ti at some point to find missing animals. 

Now he and the others were all well underway with cleaning, though so many animals still remained. Gi had just refilled Wheeler's bucket for him, and so all that was needed after he got the detergent in was to heat it up, for which purpose he pointed his ring at the bucket. Each time he heated one, he tried to see if he could manage it without having to say his power, as he had seen Kwame and Ma-Ti manage already and as he'd accidentally done to his hand earlier, but all he could achieve was to make his ring glow, and so he said, "Fire!" and the beam quickly warmed up the water.

"Good thing we have our powers back," said Gi to break the silence that had fallen over them as they'd put their efforts into their chores. "We'll need them to clean up all this mess. Water!" The water she called from the sea flew over and drenched the group of animals in front of her who had already been scrubbed. Meanwhile, Ma-Ti was with another group, rekindling their spirits and informing them they were next in line.

"Yeah," Wheeler agreed, slightly disgruntled that he couldn't use his power silently when he wanted to, "but it doesn't seem fair! We didn't make the mess, so why do we hafta clean it up? We're not getting' paid any money." He watched idly as Kwame verbally invoked his power and didn't feel quite as bad as before.

Linka shook her head in disbelief, wondering whether the stereotype of Americans valuing only money was valid or whether he was simply finding an excuse to gripe, since it was true that he was doing most of the grunt work. "Wind," she said meanwhile, blowing the particles from a group of animals that had been soaking for several minutes and leaving them both clean and dry, as her power could get between the birds' feathers to remove all the captured pollutant. "Because we care, my sweet, imperialist dog," she replied to him, figuring that if he could come up with something as ridiculous as "russkiy tootskie," she could call him whatever she liked. "Besides," she continued, picking up one of the birds and holding it to her chest, marveling at the trust it displayed and being grateful for it, as she had never been able to do this with wild birds before, "some rewards are greater than money." She lifted the bird into the air, and it flew away into the sky to join its brethren, who had, like the others, been told by Ma-Ti that they should not fly far nor go into the water. She watched the flock soar in the breeze then looked back at the redhead. "Right?" she asked.

"Yeah, I guess," he replied, as she had a good point, and he knew he was just whining for the sake of whining, and that surely wouldn't impress her, as evidenced by the mocking term she had used, though he couldn't honestly say he hadn't deserved it for the money comment.

In his musings, he had momentarily stopped scrubbing the walrus in front of him, and it now reminded him it was still there by licking him on the face unexpectedly. "Whoa, come on!" Wheeler protested in surprise as its whiskers grazed his neck and chin. "That tickles!" Still, the walrus's antics had reminded him of the brand new life upon which he and the others were embarking, and he threw his arms around it amidst the amused laughter of the others at the pair's actions, their friendship and team firmly established in a bond that would last forever.


End file.
